Mental health matters

Community effort: Members of the First National Real Estate Burnie team welcome Sam Project founders Florence and Scott Harrod to Burnie. Picture: Lara Hay

One in five Australians will experience mental illness each year.

The Sam Project is helping to bring awareness and help break down the stigma attached to mental illness.

Visiting Burnie on Thursday, October 12, founders of the project Scott and Florence Harrod explained they are doing all they can to eliminate the negatives, and change the landscape when it comes to how people talk and deal with issues.

Mr and Mrs Harrod have sold everything they own to fund the project, taking their ‘show on the road’ and visiting a number of remote and rural areas around Australia.

“We are here because we care about you,” Mr Harrod said.

Hosted by First National Real Estate Burnie, managing director Deanne Lamprey said speaking openly about mental health is very important.

The presentation by Mr and Mrs Harrod talked those in attendance through the signs of someone suffering with clinical depression, providing a level of education on what questions to ask and also reiterating that mental illness is extremely common.

“We are treating it for what it is, a regular occurrence throughout life,” Mr Harrod said.

Mrs Harrod highlighted that there was very little training around how to understand the mind and mental illness is something that does not discriminate.

“If it’s not you personally, it’s very likely to be someone in the family, at work, or a friend,” she said.

The presentation also mentioned how to seek help, how to recognise the early warning signs and also how simple measures such as breathing, physical activity and good diet can make a dramatic change.

“What we want to do is recognise the early warning signs of depression and work out how to deal with that,” Mr Harrod said.

One of the main messages from the presentation was there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach when it comes to mental health and well-being.

Coinciding with the visit, Mental Health Carers Tasmania announced an increased capacity to roll out free mental health first aid and suicide prevention training to unpaid mental health carers and families.

A $30,000 grant from the State Government will help to offer training to a further seven locations in Tasmania, including on the North-West Coast. Exact locations are yet to be decided.